Closing The Gap Between Educational Research And Practice

Teachers Investigate Their Work introduces the methods and concepts of action research through examples drawn from studies carried out by teachers. The book is arranged as a handbook with numerous sub-headings for easy reference and fourty-one practical methods and strategies to put into action, some of them flagged as suitable `starters'. Throughout the book, the authors draw on their international practical experience of action research, working in close collaboration with teachers. It is an essential guide for teachers, senior staff and co-ordinators of teacher professional development who are interested in investigating their own practice in order to improve it.

Over the years two main approaches have emerged in the teaching and learning of reading and writing. One is the 'whole language' approach; the other concentrates more on instruction in phonics. This paper focuses on the theoretical assumptions underlying these two approaches to the teaching of literacy, and the studies which have been undertaken, in the international arena, to find out how children progress, from their earliest educational years, in attaining both initial reading skills and lifelong literacy. [Author abstract, ed].

This book provides new ways of thinking about educational processes, using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Ultimately, it aims at expanding knowledge itself - altering the centre by allowing the margins to inform it - allowing it to be extended to include those ways of knowing that have historically been unexplored or ignored.

The best science teachers don't just get up in front of the class and start talking. They draw from a plan'a rationale'a purpose. This book helps you create and implement a detailed, research-based teaching rationale that works even with students of varied needs in less-than-ideal facilities. The key is a method that this book's authors and their colleagues have used to help more than 3,000 preservice and inservice science teachers achieve improved results in their classrooms. Teaching with Purpose provides a framework for coordinating your unique students and school with your desired educational outcomes and the education research literature. You can use this framework in several aspects of teaching: for planning lessons and units, selecting activities and curriculum, and analyzing your role as teacher. All this is explained within the book's easy-to-grasp structure. It covers the case for a research-based teaching rationale, the elements of such a rationale, how to develop and implement it, and then how to become a mentor to others. Throughout the text, more than a dozen elementary, middle, and high school science teachers comment on how developing a research-based rationale has made them better educators. The book's combination of theory and practice, instruction and inspiration, makes it ideal for planning personal development and for use at teacher workshops.

Explore why some schools are making more progress than others, so you can focus on what works and build the capacity of high-performance, high-poverty schools.

Educators remove over 3.45 million students from school annually for disciplinary reasons, despite strong evidence that school suspension policies are harmful to students. The research presented in this volume demonstrates that disciplinary policies and practices that schools control directly exacerbate today's profound inequities in educational opportunity and outcomes. Part I explores how suspensions flow along the lines of race, gender, and disability status. Part II examines potential remedies that show great promise, including a district-wide approach in Cleveland, Ohio, aimed at social and emotional learning strategies. Closing the School Discipline Gap is a call for action that focuses on an area in which public schools can and should make powerful improvements, in a relatively short period of time. Contributors include Robert Balfanz, Jamilia Blake, Dewey Cornell, Jeremy D. Finn, Thalia González, Anne Gregory, Daniel J. Losen, David M. Osher, Russell J. Skiba, Ivory A. Toldson “Closing the School Discipline Gap can make an enormous difference in reducing disciplinary exclusions across the country. This book not only exposes unsound practices and their disparate impact on the historically disadvantaged, but provides educators, policymakers, and community advocates with an array of remedies that are proven effective or hold great promise. Educators, communities, and students alike can benefit from the promising interventions and well-grounded recommendations.” —Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University “For over four decades school discipline policies and practices in too many places have pushed children out of school, especially children of color. Closing the School Discipline Gap shows that adults have the power—and responsibility—to change school climates to better meet the needs of children. This volume is a call to action for policymakers, educators, parents, and students.” —Marian Wright Edelman, president, Children’s Defense Fund

Higher education needs a new, holistic assessment of global learning. The studies in this edited volume investigate not just student learning, but also faculty experiences, program structures, and pathways that impact global learning. Showcasing recent, multi-institutional research related to global learning, this book expands the context of global learning to show its antecedents and impacts as a part of the larger higher education experience. Chapters look at recent developments such as short-term, off-campus, international study and certificate/medallion programs, as well as blended learning environments and undergraduate research, all in the context of multi-institutional comparisons. Global learning is also situated in a larger university context. Thus, there is a growing need for bridging across disciplinary and administrative silos, silos that are culturally bound within academia. The gaps between these silos matter as students seek to integrate off- and on-campus learning, and it is up to the academy to mind those gaps.